director john dickerson, who said president obama should "go for the throat." republicans are now more paranoid than ever. speaker boehner is basically whining like a coach who's had the score run up on him. i mean, boehner has a little less swagger than he did two years ago when he took over the house with this wave of tea party republicans, but what a difference a couple of years makes. president obama is not the only one who benefits from contrasting himself with the republican party. governors like chris christie and bobby jindal take occasional shots at their own party and look almost mainstream by comparison. for the record, white house press secretary jay carney said today that the president believes a strong two-party system is the foundation of our democracy. let's bring in msnbc political analyst richard wolffe and vice president and executive editor of msnbc.com. richard, great to have you on always. >> thanks, ed. >> no one, including president obama, has the power to shove the gop into the dustbin of history unless they of course do it themselves.